Avrohom Ovinu and the Measure of Chesed

Rav Shimshon's myriad acts of chesed, of a thousand different kinds, arouse wonder. How could one man devote himself to others without limit? Rav Shimshon himself gives the answer, though not about himself. A talmid, Yechezkel Gordon, recorded in his notes that Rav Shimshon posed this question: "I have a four-year-old daughter at home, an innocent and pure child. Does the Torah command me, a devoted father, to send her to the local well to draw water for the camels of ten Arabs? Yet this was the sign that Eliezer asked for: the girl who would say, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels to drink,' is the one You have shown to be for Your servant Yitzchok (Bereishis 24:14). Does the Torah expect such devotion to others from a young girl?" His answer was that Avrohom Ovinu was not simply a kind person. He was master of the trait of kindness itself, and for someone who embodies the trait itself there is no limit, no boundary and no measure. The essence of chesed is the utter abandonment of self for the sake of others.